ciao a tutti

Oggi si festeggia il World Hello Day. 

Non potevo dimenticare quest’importante festività.

E citando i Teletubbies, il maggiore contributo britannico alla cultura popolare mondiale dopo Shakespeare, Agata Christie e i Beatles, non posso che dire a tutti i miei affezionati e meno affezionati lettori e lettrici

Hello!!

E grazie per avermi fatto superare anche la soglia dei 25 mila lettori, uno di questi giorni organizzo un party on line come quello per i 10 mila, promesso.

November 21, 2009 is the 37th annual World Hello Day.  Anyone can participate in World Hello Day simply by greeting ten people.  This demonstrates the importance of personal communication for preserving peace.

World Hello Day was begun in response to the conflict between Egypt and Israel in the Fall of 1973.  Since then, World Hello Day has been observed by people in 180 countries.

People around the world use the occasion of World Hello Day as an opportunity to express their concern for world peace.  Beginning with a simple greeting on World Hello Day, their activities send a message to leaders, encouraging them to use communication rather than force to settle conflicts.

fnord

Ciao

here’s a few beautiful ciao photos from adottaun ciao. the ciao is a work of art. it is the most perfect moped. there is no question. this makes me want to put my ciaos together. just for around town riding. no racing , nothing crazy. just a kitted ciao that’s variated. it’s perfection, bliss. i seek thee

Ciao a tutti!

Per questo  primo articolo, ho scelto un titolo simbolico che vuole essere sia rivelatore sia provocatorio.

Provocatorio, perché merhaba si può effettivamente tradurre con ciao; tuttavia, al contrario di esso, ha una seconda valenza più formale sebbene di uso quotidiano che è  piuttosto equivalente a salve o buongiorno.  Questa nota vuole quindi essere rivelatrice,  simbolo delle differenze/similitudini che esistono non solo tra due lingue tanto diverse quali la turca e quella italiana, ma anche tra due culture al contrario tanto simili (molto più di quanto si pensi e si percepisca nella nostra generale ignoranza europea).

Con questo blog mi propongo, un po’ ambiziosamente, di comunicare a lettori che spero tanto interessati quanto benevolenti (nei miei confronti!) i legami esistenti ma spesso ignorati  tra Turchia ed Italia, tra le loro culture e popolazioni. Lo faccio nella veste e dal punto di vista di un toscano di 29 anni, studi di politica e relazioni internazionali alle spalle, volenteroso ma discontinuo studente di turco, insegnante di italiano privato e presso una scuola di lingua da un paio d’anni, ovvero da quando si è trasferito ad Istanbul per l’amore della sua vita. Come recita il sottotitolo in turco: la lingua italiana ed io, un italiano ad Istanbul.

Intendo fare questo attraverso un’ampia varietà di argomenti che riflettano le mie varie esperienze e diversi interessi, rivolto sia ad un pubblico generico ed italiano che ai numerosi studenti turchi della nostra lingua, lasciandomi libero di indirizzarmi a piacere di volta in volta più agli uni o agli altri.

Spero con un tale approccio di preservare il mio piacere di scrivere questo weblog, evitando noia e ripetitività a me stesso ed a voi lettori, e riuscendo allo stesso tempo a dipingere un quadro interessante composto da tanti frammenti: schegge di riflessi e riflessioni.

Filippo M.

Avvertenza: trattasi di paranoie.

 Era bello il mondo, prima dell’avvento del tsao, era proprio bello: sui monti scorrevano latte&miele, limpidi ruscelli, i fiori si svegliavano salutando la rugiada; nel mare i pesci sguazzavano felici tra le onde; nelle città ci si guardava e ci si salutava, gli uomini e le donne parlavano la stessa lingua e si dicevano “ciao”, “buongiorno”, buonasera”, “arrivederci”, “oggi è una bella giornata”, “oggi è brutto, guardi quanta pioggia cade”, etc. etc., a seconda dell’umore e della voglia di socializzare, ma era bello, ci capivamo, parlavamo la stessa lingua e avevamo le fragole nel giardino. Poi, non si sa come, non si sa perché, un giorno qualunque degli anni ’90 qualcuno creò il tsao, e tutto cambiò, gli esseri umani si ritrovarono nuovamente immersi nel caos linguistico primordiale: il “ciao” diventò tsao, il “buongiorno” mutò in “buontzorno”, buon pomeriggio in “buon pomeritzo” e frasi complesse diventarono incomprensibili “otzi è una bella tzornata”, “otzi è brutto, guardi quanta piotza cade”. Non si sa perché, non si sa per come. Inizialmente, il tsao si diffuse grazie alle giovani donzelle che, probabilmente, per intenerire e conquistare il maschio cacciatore, utilizzavano modi di fare infantili, da bimbette di due anni, al massimo quattro, va, stravolgendo tutte le regole della pronuncia che gli esseri umani mentalmente sani usavano, poi il fenomeno è diventato incontrollabile e, invece di estinguersi naturalmente come speravo, si è diffuso enormemente per arrivare fino alle ragazzine preadolescenti, alle ultratrentenni e addirittura ai maschi. Devo riconoscere che, in molti casi, il tsao  è servito allo scopo, gli uomini subivano il fascino delle donne-bimbe e cedevano al secondo tsao, sembrerebbe una cosa vagamente pedofila mentre, in realtà, è solo istinto di protezione del maschio il quale, purtroppo, scopre in ritardo che la bimba-donna in realtà è una virago più oppressiva delle donne normali, ma pazienza. Però, non mi spiego il fenomeno al maschile: perché anche i maschi dicono tsao? Forse, per conquistare provano a stimolare l’istinto materno di ogni donna? Ma, allora, cari maschioni micioni, vi do un consiglio da zia: per conquistare una donna passando per l’istinto materno è sufficiente adottare un cagnolino e portarlo a spasso per la città o ai giardini pubblici (ops, tzardini pubblitzi) dimostrerete anche di essere in grado di prendervi cura di qualcosa che non sia il vostro taglio di capelli, a meno che abbiate qualche allergia agli animali da compagnia o vogliate essere adottati voi stessi e allora, cari ragazzi, continuate così e, mi raccomando, che il guinzaglio sia abbinato alle scarpe, però usate il tsao solo con l’oggetto del desiderio, pliiis, se incontrate una giraffa per strada, salutatela liberamente con un bel “ciao”, vi sentirete più felici pure voi.

(e farete contenta anche la mia gatta)

I write this post from a small Internet cafe in Calangute, as a heavy rain falls from the cloudy Goa sky above us.

That’s right, we are in Goa, the legendary Indian beachtown for hippies and yoga freaks. Elliot and I have jumped in both feet first: we’ve acquired a room in a small hotel on the beachfront, rented a scooter, and partaken in several yoga classes (Mom, by the time you read this, we will have returned the scooter). We drive along the few paved roads of Northern Goa, shouting “Ciao” to everyone we pass by. Occasionally, we will yell “Cow” to the bovine pedestrians.

Speaking of large four-legged animals, we were finally able to ride an elephant yesterday. His handlers assured us that they weren’t looking for payment, only a ‘donation’ to the local temple which ended up taking a hefty bite out of our wallets. I suppose one must suffer for the sake of spirituality . . . Still, very worth it.

Yoga here has been taxing on the body, but very good for our spirits. We practiced on a wicker floor, with a wicker cieling above us supported by a large tree. On our sides, only mosquito nets. Elliot is far more flexible than I am, but by the end of practice we are both sweating profusely.

Last night after a late-evening yoga practice we traveled to the German Bakery, the one place in Goa that everyone agrees on as an excellent restaurant. We traveled through winding back-roads to get there, and in the dim light, surrounded by dark arboreal figures, I joked that we had been transported to Voodooland.

We finally found the restaurant, where we sat on the floor and were served the best chai tea I’ve ever had in my life (milk tea, ginger, cardomam . . . .) We then dined on the simple fare of fresh-caught fish in Indian curry with potatoes and salad. As we sat cross-legged and sipped our chai, a song of Indian devotional music came on the speakers, and the lamplight cast soft shadows on the table before us. The smell of Indian spices mixed with the smell of the native West Indian vegetation. I closed my eyes and thought about how odd it was, that I would travel halfway around the world just to rediscover my own five senses. That Elliot and I would leave two of the most developed and urbanized countries in the world to surround ourselves with the native elements, to wake to the sound of the ocean and to eat simply prepared meals, to feel the rain and wind on our skin and to pass wild cows ambling along the road. It makes one wonder why we would consider our societies so advanced, when so many of us willingly seek out this simpler lifestyle, if only for a while.

Tomorrow, we will return to Bombay, where we have been living like Bollywood stars. But more on that later.

Ciao!

-J. and E.

As you all may know, I have been saying that I will soon be taking the MPRE’s.
With NanoWrimo, and all the other stuff that life has to offer, I was pretty busy this week.
Nevertheless, I took the MPREs this morning, and for a synopsis of my experience, here is my current facebook status:

“Let’s just say that I’m glad the MPRE’s are over… Muchas gracias to all those who lied and said it was easy…there is a special place reserved for people like you… I thank my God who is too good to ever make me have to go through that again… ;-P”

Take it with a grain of salt…

Ciao =)

Październik dla Ciao!71321 to miesiąc,  w którym przekroczyliśmy 3000 pytań.  Oto najlepsze pytania (kolejność przypadkowa:

 Pytanie                                                                                   Odpowiedź

Dziękujęmy za zaufanie i dobrą zabawę! Nasz serwis działa 24 godziny na dobę przez 7 dni w tygodniu.  Z nowości w serwisie, podajemy teraz zawsze z odpowiedzią źródło,  z którego pochodzi. Odpowiedzi na pytania publikowane są na stronie internetowej www.ciao71321.pl lub www.71321.pl

Pozdrawiam

Adam

Mi “presento”,sono un ragazzo di 25 anni che vive in italia con la passione per musica e design..naturalmente queste sono solo 2 delle passioni che ho …

Questa é la mia migiore passione!!!
Purtroppo finora non possiedo un mac, ma credo di poterne prendere uno entro 2 mesi.

Ciao a tutti,

benvenuti sul blog dell’associazione dei sardi in Spagna (a Barcellona), l’ennesimo blog che vi dice cosa succede in questa splendida cittá.

Ma prima, le presentazioni. Chi siamo? Siamo dei collaboratori dell’associazione sardi in Spagna (a Barcellona), appunto. Un’associazione che si occupa di promuovere la Sardegna in Spagna ed aiutare coloro che dalla Sardegna decidono di vivere un’esperienza in terra iberico/catalana. Una viaggio alla ricerca di qualcosa di nuovo e/o una riscoperta delle proprie radici (la Sardegna già dal 1300 ha vissuto una forte influenza spagnola e catalana, arrivata sino ai nostri giorni). Per chi volesse maggiori informazioni sull’associazione rimandiamo alle pagine Chi siamo, cosa facciamo, contatti ecc, presenti nell’intestazione del blog.

Abbiamo deciso di aprire questo spazio per fornire tutte le informazioni che possono essere utili alla vostra esperienza catalana. Quando si decide di muoversi e spostarsi in uno spazio che non si conosce, più cose si sanno meglio è. Ecco un esempio di quanto troverete su questo blog.

Siete giá alla disperata ricerca di un alloggio? Scovare una stanza si riveva un’impresa più difficile del previsto?
Non sapete come trovare lavoro o più semplicemente non avete idea di cosa fare stanotte o nel weekend?
Se vi trovate qua, siete sulla strada giusta. Il nostro spazio cercherà di fornire le risposte a tutte le vostre domande,  con in più tutte le informazioni riguardanti curiositá, aneddoti, cinema, sport, eventi teatrali e novitá di tutti i tipi.

Inoltre, aggiorneremo queste pagine con curiosità, approfondimenti storici, speciali culturali. E, tema fondamentale, interviste a chi ha scelto di spostarsi dalla Sardegna ed attualmente vive un’esperienza in Spagna. Avremo modo di conoscere le opinioni e le storie di chi ha scelto di cambiare davvero, scoprendo il come, quando, perchè.

Siamo appena all’inizio. Seguiteci, abbiamo tante cose da dire.

Hasta luego!

Bon… Dans quelques heures, j’me ramasse là-dessus…

Non mais t’as beau avoir toute la classe du monde là… J’connais pas personne qui aurait pas l’air fou sur ça. Crisse que j’vais rire jaune!

J’aimerais ça savoir pourquoi tout le monde se paie ma gueule quand je leur raconte que mon Doc m’a dit qu’il me fallait 30 éjaculations (me suis fixé ça sur deux semaines) avant de checker si y’a des spermatos récalcitrants. Je crois que j’ai pogné un osti de vicieux moi là.

Pis non j’suis pas nerveux! Tellement pas nerveux que j’ai un calisse de bouton qui m’a poussé dans la face… Pas besoin de vous dire que j’ai JAMAIS de boutons! (Je laisse ça à la Reine)

Les provisions sont faites pour le week-end! Pu besoin de sortir alors j’vais rester cloitré chez moi la poche bien au froid sur un sac de ti-pois à -20° celcius. Asteure me faut me pratiquer mon talent d’acteur pour avoir l’air d’avoir TRÈS mal question que ce soit la Reine qui cuisine.

J’aurais pas du écrire ça… Ça vient de m’enlever toute la crédibilité du monde (Comme si j’en avais là!)

Au moins elle le sait, c’est elle qui va être chargée de m’acheter ma bière!

Si tu le savais pas chérie asteure tu le sais

Allez, bon week-end tout le monde!

C’est tellement ça que j’vais chanter demain quand j’vais avoir les pieds dans les étriers!

I’ve had the good fortune to work with talented folks in my (short) time in Washington, since moving back East in 2002, particularly in the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense.  And one such fellow at DoD has been Bob Lentz, the outgoing deputy assistant secretary of Defense for information and identity assurance – the Chief Information Assurance Officer and equivalent to a private-sector CISO.

I gave an interview this afternoon to Federal News Radio (AM 1500 in the DC area, worldwide at www.FederalNewsRadio.com), on Bob’s tenure, and what will come next for DoD in the wake of his departure. You can read the news story about the interview here, or listen to the entire 15-minute interview as an mp3:

Shepherd interview on Federal News Radio, 10/13/2009

Not everything has gone perfectly, or even well, for Pentagon infosec during his tenure; we have been fighting several wars, declared and undeclared, real and cyber, during the past few years. It’s an unbelievably daunting mission, to secure the nation’s ability to defend herself and our most critical systems amid unrelenting attack.

But Bob has worked closely with the private sector on information security technological advances – he and I joined several leading Silicon Valley startup CEOs, leading-firm CISOs, and venture-capital entrepreneurs in the Information Technology Security Entrepreneurs Forum, or ITSEF.  He’s worked closely with DHS and NSA, including in the establishment of the Pentagon’s Cyber Command. He has also taken a number of counter-intuitive approaches, ranging from getting involved with Black Hat and DEFCON, to establishing jointly with the IC the Unified Cross Domain Management Office, or UCDMO. If you have the right credentials, visit the UCDMO SharePoint Collaboration Site (requires Intelink-U Access), or see their open web site at http://www.ucdmo.gov/.

This week Bob himself published a great “farewell column” in Government Computer News, “5 Key Challenges to DoD’s Cybersecurity.” The article includes policy advice for his successor and the Defense Department as a whole – but it is thoughtful advice that should be read by any CISO.  I’ll include his bullet-point list from the article: he writes, “If I had to list five of the biggest challenges that remain, my list would include”:

• The need to continuously harden the network, in this era of Web 2.0, cloud services, and increased mobile workforce and growing global requirements.
• The whole area of Supply Chain Risk Management. As the threat changes, we need to adjust as well, which includes rolling out technologies that inspect and secure the supply chain.
• Raising awareness across DOD and greater national security community on cyber resilience, so that commanders are prepared to operate in a contested cyber domain when communications are degraded or, worse, untrusted. The increased complexity of our technologies, coupled with our even greater dependence on them for mission success, make this an imperative.
• The necessity of education, training and workforce manning for critical IT/IA skill sets.
• And, again, the need to move to multi-factor and attribute-based identity assurance access for people, devices, data and applications.

That third bullet could be read as a provocative statement (which in Washington terms means admitting the truth): Imperfection, in DoD!  Military commanders are going to have to put up with “untrusted” communications systems in “a contested cyber domain.”  That’s the harsh reality, and military commanders are on the front lines in facing it. Bob Lentz’s successor will find his boots challenging to fill.

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Bienvenido

Benvenuto

Welcome

Måste se den. Jag måste.

Och, ja. Blev sjukt sugen på att se om L Word, gillar verkligen Jennys karaktär där i början (innan hon blev helt störd). Och, ja. Shane är ju alltid trevlig att titta på. Men vi får se, kanske.

Tenta imorgon och jag är inte hälften så nervös som jag borde vara. Har knappt pluggat nåt alls. Kommer gå åt hellskotta, men vem bryr sig. Jag åker till babylicious direkt efter ändå.

Originally posted at dweddings.com

Bubble Rap

Bubble is back in business. The Oak Cliff event space owned by Dallas photographer Scogin Mayo got a little redo in recent months, and now it’s ready to party. Located in the OC’s funky Bishop Arts District, Bubble boasts 2,500 square feet perfect for a reception or other wedding event. Guests can also enjoy the nearby shops and galleries the charming neighborhood has to offer. 413 N. Bishop Ave. 214-941-6671. www.snapbubblepop.com.

Ciao, Piazza!

These guys have thought of everything. Located in the European-inspired The Village at Colleyville, the 14,000-square-foot Piazza in the Village includes a courtyard, a reception hall, and a 300-seat chapel with web-broadcasting capabilities. Be sure to take advantage of the luxurious bridal suite while the boys squeeze in a last-minute video game session in the groom’s room. 77 Piazza Ln., Colleyville. 817-520-0026. www.piazzainthevillage.com.

Party City

Studios 1019, which recently moved just north of the Design District, bills itself as “an exceptional venue.” Luckily, it lives up to the hype. Owner Lynn Sugarman transformed the 7,000-square-foot warehouse space into a multipurpose venue with a long list of amenities. Among the many notable features are the stone walls, water feature, and gorgeous greenery in the central atrium. 2278 Monitor St. 214-748-1019. www.studios1019.com.

Power Up

If you like the idea of incorporating the Dallas skyline into your reception, this space in the historic Dallas Power and Light Substation is just for you. Off the Grid offers a number of perks, including a bridal dressing area, valet parking, tables and chairs, linens, catering, and more. Plan on inviting half the city? Shouldn’t be a problem. The three-floored space is 7,000 square feet, and there’s more room on a large outdoor patio and an additional outdoor area. 1723 Kelly St. 214-457-6789. www.partyoffthegrid.com.

bella ciao.

was machen wir am wochenende?

*Jakarta Globe, 30 Sept 2009

I stumbled by chance across Asvanara, a horse farm in the heart of Tuscany, Italy’s famed wine region.

Here, where the sky is home to clouds as fat as Gorgonzola cheese-filled gnocchi and the air is crisp as freshly baked French baguettes, I wear the various hats of dishwasher, housemaid and sous chef.

As the farm teaches courses in natural horsemanship it is always filled with boisterous Italian equine aficionados clad in jeans, fringed leather chaps and cowboy hats. The owners have freshly-scrubbed faces, ride bareback, practice yoga and are prone to performing morning meditations in the buff.

Days are filled with everyone’s constant greeting of “ciao!” punctuating the air, the hypnotic swishing of horses’ tails and the hopping of crickets guiding my way through the farm’s grassy terrain.

Lining the slopes of the farm are quaint wooden bungalows, named after planets, set aside for students. Pink popsicle-colored hammocks are slung around the trees outside, complemented by the arresting vista of Tuscany falling sleepily into autumn.

It is in this postcard-perfect place that I have discovered my passion for the kitchen and homemade cuisine.

On the road I’ve experienced my share of kitchens. In fact, I make a habit of gravitating toward them.

In Bujumbura, Burundi, I crouched besides a wooden fire cooking gruel with three African girls in a dimly-lit mud hut. I sipped hot chocolate and shared laughter with three generations of women baking apple pie in a creamy New Jersey home. I peeled potatoes by the bucketful to earn my dinner in the blisteringly hot kitchen of a temperamental cook by the Dordogne river in France.

In any home, I find kitchens are more than just where food is created. They are where friendships are formed. Within those four walls is the sense of something new and, also, a sense of comfort. The kitchen is as warm as a mother’s womb and full of tastes and smells reminiscent of youth.

On my first day at Asvanara, I had a taste of the local grub, a simple meal of creamy cauliflower soup and spaghetti dressed with fresh tomatoes and spices. But the chef’s homemade concoctions with his secret slips and slaps of spices gave me an insatiable appetite. It was love at first bite. You could say, he had me at spatula.

From that moment forward, I knew that being the housemaid wasn’t going to cut it. I volunteered for extra kitchen duty. I wanted to learn how to cook.

For a girl who once charred the ceiling of her apartment because she didn’t know how to work a gas stove and had eggs blow up after attempting to cook them in the microwave, this may not sound like the best idea. During my time in Jakarta, the only time I stepped into a grocery store was to purchase a Magnum ice-cream and the extent of my cooking skills as a bachelorette in London were limited to adding soy sauce to a daily diet of buttered salmon fillet and sauteed spinach.

But I thought I’d chance it this time around. After all, I had a kitchen god in Asvanara in the form of Udo, an Enid-Blyton-reading-yoga-master-vegetarian-chef from Germany. As fate would have it, Udo even has a connection to my homeland. His first kitchen was in an Indonesian restaurant in Berlin and one of the first dishes he learnt was gado-gado (mixed vegetables with peanut sauce).

In order to be in the presence of Udo, my other, not-so-coveted, chores required me to wash dishes and clean the dining areas. From the crack of the fog-filled dawns until the blue high noons, I tackled dishes and the perpetually soiled mess hall floors, courtesy of the cowboys.

The hard work paid off. Gradually, Udo began to trust me to handle food.

I discovered that the kitchen flirts with every sensory faculty.

It sings. Heated butter gurgles, pots and pans argue noisily when washed, ovens hiss and plucked basil sighs. The aroma of chopped parsley, the scent of grated lemon and sprinkled cinnamon wafting through the air, filling the room, teases the nostrils and cavorts with the senses.

And there are tactile sensations attached to the preparation of a meal. To feel the chill of the cucumber’s skin, the juicy seeds tumbling out of a ripe tomato, the slippery heat rising from cooked pasta and the pillow softness of whipped cream are to be in touch with the life source that is food.

Soon I was assigned baking duties. Within a week I knew how to bake bread, creating six baguettes a day for over a dozen hungry cowboys and ranch hands, and learn the secrets of making chocolate from scratch.

But after weeks of pizza and pasta, not even Udo’s culinary talent can prevent them turning bland upon my Spice Islands tongue.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a bowl of Indomie noodles right now!